Vehicle location tracking systems and methods

ABSTRACT

A vehicle location tracking system comprises a plurality of transceivers, a coordinator, and a plurality of identification tags. The plurality of identification tags are coupled to a fleet of vehicles to be tracked. The transceivers measure the strength of a signal emitted by an identification tag coupled to a vehicle and communicate the measured signal strength to the coordinator. The indoor vehicle location tracking system estimates the location of the vehicle based on the measured signal strength.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. application Ser. No.16/018,881, filed Jun. 26, 2018, which claims the benefit under 35U.S.C. § 119(e) of U.S. Provisional Application No. 62/525,449, filedJun. 27, 2017, each of which is hereby incorporated by reference hereinin its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to tracking a vehicle location.Specifically, the present disclosure relates to vehicle locationtracking.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The written disclosure herein describes illustrative embodiments thatare non-limiting and non-exhaustive. Reference is made to certain ofsuch illustrative embodiments that are depicted in the figures describedbelow.

FIG. 1 illustrates a parking structure with a vehicle tracking systeminstalled, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 2 illustrates a vehicle tracking system approximating a vehicle'slocation, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a map generated by a vehicle tracking system depicting avehicle's location, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface to provide vehicle informationaccrued by a vehicle tracking system, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method for tracking a location of avehicle, according to one embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method for tracking a location of avehicle using multiple location systems (e.g., GPS and RF-based),according to one embodiment.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

This disclosure describes systems and methods for tracking a location ofa vehicle. Some example embodiments herein describe a tracking systemused inside a parking structure. However, the tracking systems andmethods described herein may be implemented on an outdoor lot, within astructure, or in a facility that combines indoor and outdoor parking. Avehicle location tracking system may comprise a plurality oftransceivers, a coordinator, and a plurality of identification tags. Theplurality of identification tags are coupled to a fleet of vehicles tobe tracked. The transceivers are positioned within the parking structureand/or parking lot and measure the strength of a signal emitted by anidentification tag coupled to a vehicle. The transceivers communicatethe measured signal strength to the coordinator (e.g., a central node),and the coordinator estimates the location of the vehicle based on themeasured signal strength.

Managing a fleet of vehicles includes tracking the location of eachvehicle. For example, in a rental fleet the parking location of returnedvehicles is recorded to assist a renter in locating the correct vehicle.Recording the location of each vehicle may be done manually. Forexample, when a renter returns a car, an employee may write the parkingspace in which the vehicle is parked on a return slip. However, as thenumber of cars in the fleet increases, this manual process can becomemore laborious. Also, when a renter returns a vehicle after hours, anemployee may not be available to record the parking space to which thevehicle was returned.

To automate the vehicle location, a global positioning system (GPS) maybe used. The GPS may report the location of each vehicle, making manualrecording unnecessary. However, a GPS may fail to provide preciselocation information (e.g., parking stall number) and fail to trackvehicles within parking garages. With a large inventory of vehicles,imprecise location may make it difficult to find a specific vehicle.Further, a parking garage may shield a vehicle from GPS signals, therebylimiting the effectiveness of a GPS vehicle location system indoors.

A vehicle location tracking system as disclosed herein may provideprecise location information even when a vehicle is within a parkingstructure. In some embodiments, the vehicle location tracking systemutilizes a network of radio frequency (RF) devices to locate a vehicle.For instance, a set of RF transceivers may determine signal strengthfrom an RFID tag attached to a vehicle. Based on the signal strength ata plurality of RF transceivers, the vehicle location tracking systemdetermines a location of the vehicle.

The vehicle location tracking system communicates vehicle locationinformation with a device to assist in locating a specific vehicle. Forexample, in some embodiments, the vehicle location tracking system sendsvehicle location information to a personal electronic device (PED), suchas a smart phone or tablet, of a renter. The vehicle location trackingsystem may include an application on the PED that displays vehicleinformation including a map depicting a location of the vehicle.

As used herein, the phrase “coupled to” is broad enough to refer to anysuitable coupling or other form of interaction between two or morecomponents, including electrical and mechanical interaction. Twocomponents may be coupled to each other even though there may beintermediary devices between the two components.

Some of the infrastructure that can be used with embodiments disclosedherein is already available, such as: general-purpose computers,computer programming tools and techniques, digital storage media, andcommunications networks. A computer may include a processor, such as amicroprocessor, microcontroller, logic circuitry, or the like. Theprocessor may include a special-purpose processing device, such as anASIC, PAL, PLA, PLD, FPGA, or other customized or programmable device.The computer may also include a computer-readable storage device, suchas non-volatile memory, static RAM, dynamic RAM, ROM, CD-ROM, disk,tape, magnetic memory, optical memory, flash memory, or anothercomputer-readable storage medium.

Suitable networks for configuration and/or use, as described herein,include any of a wide variety of network infrastructures. Specifically,a network may incorporate landlines, wireless communication, opticalconnections, various modulators, demodulators, small form-factorpluggable (SFP) transceivers, routers, hubs, switches, and/or othernetworking equipment. The network may include communications ornetworking software, such as software available from Novell, Microsoft,Artisoft, and other vendors, and may operate using UDP, TCP/IP, SPX,IPX, SONET, and other protocols over twisted pair, coaxial, or opticalfiber cables; telephone lines; satellites; microwave relays; modulatedAC power lines; physical media transfer; wireless radio links; and/orother data transmission “wires.” The network may encompass smallernetworks and/or be connectable to other networks through a gateway orsimilar mechanism.

Aspects of certain embodiments of a tracking system may be implementedas software modules or components. As used herein, a software module orcomponent may include any type of computer instruction or computerexecutable code located within or on a computer-readable storage medium.A software module may, for instance, comprise one or more physical orlogical blocks of computer instructions, which may be organized as aroutine, program, object, component, data structure, etc., which performone or more tasks or implement particular abstract data types. Aparticular software module may comprise disparate instructions stored indifferent locations of a computer-readable storage medium, whichtogether implement the described functionality of the module. Indeed, amodule may comprise a single instruction or many instructions, and maybe distributed over several different code segments, among differentprograms, and across several computer-readable storage media.

Some embodiments may be practiced in a distributed computing environmentwhere tasks are performed by a remote processing device linked through acommunications network. In a distributed computing environment, softwaremodules may be located in local and/or remote computer-readable storagemedia. In addition, data being tied or rendered together in a databaserecord may be resident in the same computer-readable storage medium, oracross several computer-readable storage media, and may be linkedtogether in fields of a record in a database across a network. Accordingto one embodiment, a database management system (DBMS) allows users tointeract with one or more databases and provides access to the datacontained in the databases.

In the following description, various aspects of the illustrativeimplementations will be described using terms commonly employed by thoseskilled in the art to convey the substance of their work to othersskilled in the art. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in theart that the disclosure may be practiced with only some of the describedaspects. For purposes of explanation, specific configurations are setforth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the illustrativeimplementations. However, it will be apparent to one skilled in the artthat the disclosure may be practiced without the specific details. Inother instances, well-known features are omitted or simplified in ordernot to obscure the illustrative implementations.

Various operations will be described as multiple discrete operations, inturn, in a manner that is most helpful in understanding the disclosure;however, the order of description should not be construed to imply thatthese operations are necessarily order dependent. In particular, theseoperations need not be performed in the order of presentation.

Additional details and examples are provided with reference to thefigures below. The embodiments of the disclosure can be understood byreference to the drawings, wherein like parts are designated by likenumerals throughout. The components of the disclosed embodiments, asgenerally described and illustrated in the figures herein, could bearranged and designed in a wide variety of different configurations.Thus, the following detailed description of the embodiments of thesystems and methods of the disclosure is not intended to limit the scopeof the disclosure, as claimed, but is merely representative of possibleembodiments.

FIG. 1 illustrates a parking structure with a vehicle tracking system100 installed, according to one embodiment. The vehicle tracking system100 may comprise a plurality of transceivers (e.g., transceivers 102,104, and 106), a coordinator 110, and a plurality of identification tags(e.g., identification tag 120). The identification tags are coupled tofleet vehicles to be tracked (e.g., vehicle 130).

The identification tag 120 couples to the vehicle 130 and emits anidentification signal 122 associated with the vehicle 130. In someembodiments, the identification tag 120 is an RFID or other RFtransmitter. The RFID may be passive or active. If the RFID is active,the vehicle 130 may provide the energy necessary to operate the RFID.For example, in some embodiments, the vehicle 130 directly powers theRFID, while in other embodiments, the vehicle 130 maintains a charge ona battery powering the RFID. The power may come from the vehicle'sbattery or an electrical outlet in the vehicle 130.

The identification signal 122 may be used to identify vehicleinformation. In one embodiment, each car may be registered with thevehicle tracking system 100. The registration may capture the vehicle'smake, model, year, license plate number, and other identifyinginformation. Additionally, an identification tag 120 is associated withthe vehicle 130 during registration. The identification signal 122transmits a unique key that the vehicle tracking system 100 may storewith the vehicle's information. The vehicle tracking system 100 may lookup the vehicle's information based on the unique key transmitted via theidentification signal 122.

The transceivers 102, 104, and 106 are placed within a parking structureand receive the identification signal 122. The transceivers 102, 104,and 106 may be configured to transmit and receive signals using one ormore technologies including RF, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Z-wave. Inone embodiment, the transceivers 102, 104, and 106 are evenly spaced,and transceivers on opposing walls are offset.

The location of each transceiver 102, 104, and 106 may be manuallyrecorded into the vehicle tracking system 100 or automaticallydetermined by the vehicle tracking system 100. For example, in someembodiments, the distance between transceivers 102, 104, and 106 iscalculated based on the strength of a signal transmitted from onetransceiver to another. The location of each sensor may be mapped basedon the relative distance between transceivers 102, 104, and 106.

The transceivers 102, 104, and 106 may receive the identification signal122 and determine the strength of the identification signal 122 from theidentification tag 120. The transceivers 102, 104, and 106 transmit amarker signal 108 comprising the identification signal 122, the signalstrength, and a transceiver identifier or location to the coordinator110 or central node. The coordinator 110 approximates the location ofthe vehicle 130 based on the signal strength of the identificationsignal 122 at one or more of the transceivers 102, 104, and 106. Thecoordinator 110 may communicate the vehicle location to external devicesover a network connection (e.g., Wi-Fi, LTE, and 3G). For example, inone embodiment, the coordinator 110 provides the vehicle location to aPED 142 of a driver 140.

In some embodiments, the location of parking stalls may be determined.For example, the parking structure may be virtually mapped, and thelocation of each parking stall may be identified. The location of eachof the transceivers 102, 104, and 106 relative to the parking stalls maybe recorded. In some embodiments, a transceiver is placed in everyparking stall. In some embodiments, the parking stalls may have a stallidentification tag (e.g., RFID tag) positioned within the stall or on anadjacent wall of the parking structure. The vehicle tracking system 100may compare the signal strength from the stall identification tag at thetransceivers 102, 104, and 106 to determine the location of a parkingstall. In some embodiments, the location of the parking stalls iscompared to the location of the vehicle 130 to determine a specificparking stall that the vehicle 130 is parked in. In some embodiments,the signal strength from the stall identification tag may be compared tothe strength of the identification signal 122 from the identificationtag 120 to determine which parking stall the vehicle 130 is in.

In some embodiments, the transceivers may be located on one or morevehicles (e.g., vehicle 130). The transceivers on the vehicles mayidentify the location of the vehicles relative to each other (relativelocation). Further, in some embodiments, the one or more vehicles mayhave GPS tracking units. The vehicle tracking system 100 may identifyone or more of the GPS tracking units with a signal strength above atarget threshold and identify the transceiver(s) associated with thesame vehicle(s). The identified transceiver(s) may be used to tie therelative location of the one or more vehicles to GPS coordinates. Thevehicle tracking system 100 may identify GPS coordinates for vehicleswith GPS tracking units with a signal strength below the targetthreshold by using the location of those vehicles relative to thevehicles with GPS tracking units with a signal strength above the targetthreshold. In some embodiments, the GPS tracking unit with the highestsignal strength is used to determine a first vehicle location and therelative location from the transceivers is used to identify a locationfor other vehicles in the parking facility.

In some embodiments, the transceivers 102, 104, and 106 may alsocommunicate with a driver identification tag. The driver identificationtag may be the PED 142 or an RFID on a set of keys. The driveridentification tag may transmit a signal to the transceivers 102, 104,and 106 that identifies the driver identification tag. For example, anapplication on the PED 142 may cause a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth transmitterassociated with the PED 142 to transmit the signal.

The driver identification tag may allow the transceivers 102, 104, and106 and coordinator 110 to determine a current location of the driver140. In some embodiments, the current driver location is determinedbased on the signal strength from the driver identification tag at oneor more of the transceivers 102, 104, and 106. In some embodiments, thetransceiver with the greatest signal strength may communicate a locationassociated with the transceiver to the PED 142 to approximate thedriver's location (e.g., within the parking structure).

The vehicle tracking system 100 may use the current location of thedriver 140 and prepare and send directions from the current location ofthe driver 140 to the location of the vehicle 130. For example, thevehicle tracking system 100 may determine a location of the driveridentification tag and a location of the identification tag 120 on thevehicle 130 and provide a map with navigation markers directing thedriver 140 to the vehicle 130.

In some embodiments, the transceivers 102, 104, and 106 may communicateusing various protocols. In some embodiments, the communication betweentransceivers 102, 104, and 106, the identification tag 120, the driveridentification tag, and the coordinator 110 may be different. Forexample, the transceivers 102, 104, and 106 may locate a vehicle 130using RF, track a driver 140 using Bluetooth, and communicate with thecoordinator 110 using Wi-Fi. In some embodiments, the transceivers 102,104, and 106 use RF only.

FIG. 2 illustrates a vehicle tracking system 100 approximating avehicle's location, according to one embodiment. The transceivers 102,104, and 106 may be positioned throughout an area where GPS typicallyfails. As the vehicle 130 with the identification tag 120 travels withinrange of a transceiver (e.g., 102, 104, or 106), the transceiver 102,104, or 106 determines the signal strength of the signal emitted by theidentification tag 120. In some embodiments, the signal emitted by theidentification tag 120 and received by the transceivers 102, 104, 106 isan RF signal.

The transceivers 102, 104, 106 send the recorded signal strength to thecoordinator 110 through the communication channels 202, 204, 206 of acommunication network. The communication network may operate using oneor more technologies including RF, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Zigbee, and Z-wave.In some embodiments, when a transceiver 102, 104, or 106 is not in rangeof the coordinator 110, the transceivers 102, 104, and 106 operate as amesh network to route the message back to the coordinator 110.

The coordinator 110 may relay information to a backend service forprocessing. In some embodiments, the coordinator 110 comprises thebackend service. In other embodiments, the backend service is remotefrom the coordinator 110. To communicate with a remote backend service,the coordinator 110 may use a variety of networks including a cellularnetwork, a Wi-Fi network, or the Internet. The backend service may be aremote server. For example, the backend service may comprise a webserver that a user may access through an Internet connection.

The backend service uses the signal strength information from thetransceivers 102, 104, and 106 to approximate the location of vehiclesin the area. For example, the backend service may triangulate thelocation of the vehicle 130 using the signal strength information and alocation of each of the transceivers 102, 104, and 106. In someembodiments, the backend service estimates the vehicle's location basedon signal strength from a subset of transceivers. For instance, thesubset of transceivers may include the three transceivers with thegreatest recorded signal strength.

The backend service also determines the vehicle information (make,model, license plate number, VIN, color, etc.) using the signal emittedby the identification tag 120. For example, the backend service maydecode the signal from the identification tag 120 to determine a vehicleidentifier. The backend service may use the vehicle identifier to lookupthe vehicle information in a vehicle information database.

The backend service sends the vehicle information and locationinformation to a user (e.g., rental car personnel or driver) to assistin locating the vehicle 130. The backend service may send the vehicleinformation and location information to the user via an application on aPED, a web interface, or outer suitable means. In some embodiments, amap of the parking structure may be displayed on a PED, and the locationinformation may be used to position a marker on the map indicating thelocation of the vehicle 130.

FIG. 3 is a map 300 generated by a vehicle tracking system depicting avehicle's location, according to one embodiment. The vehicle trackingsystem overlays a marker indicating the vehicle's location 330 on animage or drawing of the parking structure. The map 300 may be sentdirectly to a driver, a fleet manager, or another user. The vehicle'slocation 330 may automatically update when the vehicle is moved.

FIG. 4 illustrates a user interface 400 to provide vehicle informationaccrued by a vehicle tracking system, according to one embodiment. Toassist a driver in finding a vehicle, the user interface 400 may includea location of the vehicle and a description of the vehicle.

In this example, the user interface 400 includes a vehicle informationregion 402 and a map region 404. The vehicle information region 402displays identifying information related to the vehicle. For example, asshown, identifying information includes year, make, model, parking leveland section, return date, and rental price. The map region 404 displaysthe vehicle's location 330. In some embodiments, as shown, the mapregion 404 also displays the driver's current location 406. Detaileddirections to the vehicle's location 330 may be given to the driveraudibly, in text, or via indicators on the map.

In some embodiments, the vehicle's location 330 may be determined basedon proximity to transceivers, and the driver's current location 407 maybe is based on a global positioning system signal received by a personalelectronic device associated with the driver. Thus two location systemsmay be used and displayed on the same map.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of a method 500 for tracking a location of avehicle, according to one embodiment. The method 500 may work inside astructure where GPS has poor signal strength. As shown, a system usingthis method 500 receives 502 a vehicle identification signal via aplurality of transceivers. The method 500 further determines 504identification signal strength at each transceiver. In some embodiments,the signal strength of a subset of transceivers is determined. Eachtransceiver transmits 506 the transceiver location, a vehicle identifierfrom the vehicle identification signal, and the signal strength to acoordinator. The coordinator determines 508 the identity of the vehicleby processing the vehicle identifier, and identifies the location of thevehicle based on signal strength at each transceiver. The coordinatorsends 510 vehicle identification information and location information.This information may be sent to a fleet manager or a driver. Thelocation information may include a parking stall, a map, and directions.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of a method 600 for tracking a location of avehicle using multiple location systems (e.g., GPS and RF-based),according to one embodiment. In some cases, a fleet of vehicles may bestored partially inside and outside a structure. In these cases anRF-based interior tracking system may be paired with a GPS system. Inthe illustrated embodiment, the method 600 first checks 601 if there issufficient GPS strength (e.g., signal-to-noise ratio above a targetthreshold) from a GPS tracking unit associated with a vehicle to obtainlocation information for a vehicle using GPS. If there is, the systemlocates the vehicle using GPS and sends 610 vehicle identificationinformation and location information using the GPS data.

When there is not sufficient GPS strength to use GPS data, the systemusing this method 600 receives 602 a vehicle identification signal via aplurality of transceivers. The method 600 further determines 604identification signal strength at each transceiver. Each transceivertransmits 606 the transceiver location, the vehicle identificationsignal, and the signal strength to a coordinator. The coordinatordetermines 608 the identity of the vehicle by processing the vehicleidentification signal, and identifies the location of the vehicle basedon signal strength at each transceiver. The coordinator sends 610vehicle identification information and location information. Thisinformation may be sent to a fleet manager or a driver. The locationinformation may include a parking stall, a map, and directions.

In some embodiments, the GPS data and the data from the transceiver maybe used to validate each other. For example, if a GPS location is notnear the location as determined by the transceivers, the system maydetermine that the GPS location has an error and use the location asdetermined by the transceivers. If errors between the two locationsystems continue, an alert may be sent to a system manager to notify thesystem manager of a potential problem with the GPS system or thetransceivers.

Embodiments may be provided as a computer program product including anon-transitory computer and/or machine-readable medium having storedthereon instructions that may be used to program a computer (or otherelectronic device) to perform processes described herein. For example, anon-transitory computer-readable medium may store instructions that,when executed by a processor of a computer system, cause the processorto perform certain methods disclosed herein. The non-transitorycomputer-readable medium may include, but is not limited to, harddrives, floppy diskettes, optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD-ROMs, ROMs, RAMs,EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, solid-state memory devices,or other types of media/machine-readable media suitable for storingelectronic and/or processor executable instructions.

Any methods disclosed herein include one or more steps or actions forperforming the described method. The method steps and/or actions may beinterchanged with one another. In other words, unless a specific orderof steps or actions is required for proper operation of the embodiment,the order and/or use of specific steps and/or actions may be modified.

In some cases, well-known features, structures, or operations are notshown or described in detail. Furthermore, the described features,structures, or operations may be combined in any suitable manner in oneor more embodiments. It will also be readily understood that thecomponents of the embodiments as generally described and illustrated inthe figures herein could be arranged and designed in a wide variety ofdifferent configurations.

Similarly, it should be appreciated that in the above description ofembodiments, various features are sometimes grouped together in a singleembodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose ofstreamlining the disclosure. This method of disclosure, however, is notto be interpreted as reflecting an intention that any claim requiresmore features than those expressly recited in that claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in a combination offewer than all features of any single foregoing disclosed embodiment.Thus, the claims are hereby expressly incorporated into this DetailedDescription, with each claim standing on its own as a separateembodiment. This disclosure includes all permutations of the independentclaims with their dependent claims.

It will be understood by those having skill in the art that many changesmay be made to the details of the above-described embodiments withoutdeparting from the underlying principles of the invention. The scope ofthe present invention should, therefore, be determined only by thefollowing claims.

1. A vehicle location system, comprising: a plurality of vehicleidentification tags respectively coupled to a plurality of vehicles,each vehicle identification tag configured to emit an identificationsignal associated with one of the plurality of vehicles; a plurality ofstall identification tags, each stall identification tag beingconfigured to emit a stall identification signal relative to one or morecorresponding parking stalls of a plurality of parking stalls; aplurality of transceivers to: receive the identification signals fromthe plurality of vehicle identification tags and the stallidentification signals from the plurality of stall identification tags;determine a signal strength associated with each of the receivedidentification signals and the received stall identification signals;and transmit a marker signal comprising a transceiver identification, avehicle identifier, and the signal strengths; and a coordinator toreceive the marker signal from the plurality of transceivers, determinea location of one or more of the plurality of vehicles based on acomparison of the signal strengths associated with the receivedidentification signals and the received stall identification signals,and send an indication of the location of at least one of the one ormore vehicles to one or more of a plurality of users, the indication ofthe location of the at least one of the one or more vehicles comprisingidentification of a particular parking stall of the plurality of parkingstalls.
 2. The vehicle location system of claim 1, wherein the locationof one or more of the plurality of vehicles is further based on acomparison of the signal strengths at each of the plurality oftransceivers.
 3. The vehicle location system of claim 1, wherein thelocation of one or more of the plurality of vehicles is further based ona comparison of the signal strengths at a subset of the plurality oftransceivers.
 4. The vehicle location system of claim 1, wherein thecoordinator is further configured to transmit the indication of thelocation of the at least one of the one or more vehicles to a personalelectronic device.
 5. The vehicle location system of claim 1, whereinthe plurality of transceivers are further configured to send anestimated current location of at least one of the plurality of users toa personal electronic device of the at least one user.
 6. (canceled) 7.The vehicle location system of claim 5, wherein the estimated currentlocation of the at least one user is based at least partially on aglobal positioning system signal received by the personal electronicdevice, wherein the estimated current location of the at least one userand the determined location of one or more of the plurality of vehiclesare to be displayed on a map of the personal electronic device.
 8. Amethod to track a vehicle location, the method comprising: receiving, atone or more of a plurality of transceivers, an identification signalfrom one or more of a plurality of identification tags that are eachcoupled to a particular corresponding vehicle, each identificationsignal being associated with the particular corresponding vehicle;receiving, at the one or more of the plurality of transceivers, a stallidentification signal from one or more of a plurality of stallidentification tags, each stall identification signal being relative toone or more corresponding parking stalls of a plurality of parkingstalls; monitoring, at the one or more of the plurality of transceivers,a signal strength of the received identification signal and the stallidentification signal; determining a location of at least one particularcorresponding vehicle based on a comparison of the signal strength ofthe received identification signal against the received stallidentification signal at each of the plurality of transceivers, thelocation comprising identification of the particular correspondingvehicle at a particular parking stall of the plurality of parkingstalls; and sending an indication of the location to a user.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the location of the at least onecorresponding vehicle is further based on a comparison of the signalstrengths at each of the plurality of transceivers.
 10. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the location of the at least one corresponding vehicleis further based on a comparison of the signal strengths at a subset ofthe plurality of transceivers.
 11. The method of claim 8, furthercomprising transmitting the location of the at least one correspondingvehicle location to a personal electronic device.
 12. The method ofclaim 8, further comprising sending an estimated current location of theuser to a personal electronic device of the user.
 13. (canceled)
 14. Themethod of claim 12, wherein the estimated current location of the useris based at least partially on a global positioning system signalreceived by the personal electronic device, wherein the estimatedcurrent location of the user and the location of one or more of theplurality of vehicles are to be displayed on a map of the personalelectronic device.
 15. A vehicle location system comprising: anidentification tag coupled to a particular vehicle, the identificationtag configured to emit an identification signal associated with theparticular vehicle; a plurality of stall identification tags, each stallidentification tag being configured to emit a stall identificationsignal relative to one or more corresponding parking stalls of aplurality of parking stalls; a plurality of transceivers to receivesignals from the identification tag and the plurality of stallidentification tags; a processor; and a non-transitory computer-readablemedium with instructions stored thereon that, when executed by theprocessor, cause the processor to perform operations to: monitor asignal strength of the received identification signal and at least oneof the received stall identification signals at one or more of theplurality of transceivers; determine a location of the particularvehicle based on a comparison of the signal strength of the receivedidentification signal against the at least one of the received stallidentification signals at each of the plurality of transceivers, thelocation comprising identification of the particular vehicle at aparticular parking stall of the plurality of parking stalls; and send anindication of the location to a user.
 16. The vehicle location system ofclaim 15, wherein the plurality of transceivers are further configuredto send an estimated current location of the user to a personalelectronic device of the user.
 17. The vehicle location system of claim16, wherein the estimated current location of the user is relative tothe plurality of parking stalls and the personal electronic devicecomprises a smart phone of the user.
 18. The vehicle location system ofclaim 16, wherein the estimated current location of the user is based atleast partially on a global positioning system signal received by thepersonal electronic device, wherein the estimated current location ofthe user and the location of one or more of the plurality of vehiclesare to be displayed on a map of the personal electronic device.
 19. Thevehicle location system of claim 15, wherein the location comprises adata corresponding to a map of a parking facility and a stall numberwithin the parking facility.
 20. The vehicle location system of claim19, wherein the instructions further cause the processor to identify theparticular vehicle based on the signal from the identification tag, andsend, via one of the plurality of transceivers, vehicle identificationinformation and location information.
 21. The vehicle location system ofclaim 1, further comprising a plurality of driver identification tags,each driver identification tag configured to emit a driveridentification signal associated with a current location of a driver,each driver identification tag being coupled to a key usable to operateone of the plurality of vehicles.
 22. The method of claim 8, wherein aplurality of driver identification tags are each configured to emit adriver identification signal associated with a current location of adriver, each driver identification tag being coupled to a key usable tooperate one of the plurality of vehicles.